Page 3 of Vanishing Point (Bent County Protectors #1)

“I’ll get it,” Vi called out. She hated answering the door still, which was ridiculous.

In the almost two years since she’d finally left him, Eric had never once tried to come here.

Sure, he still left her threatening messages sometimes—no matter how many times she changed her phone number—same with emails and the like, but he wasn’t going to expend any energy to come all the way from Richmond to nowhere Wyoming.

He’d have done that by now if he wanted to, she was sure of it.

Had to believe it.

“No, I will!” Rosalie shouted from deeper in the house. She came barreling out of the kitchen like a wild woman, which was not unlike her younger cousin.

“Hey, thought you were showering,” Rosalie said, sliding to a stop in front of Vi like she was going to jump between her and the door.

Which was a bit much, even for the energetic Rosalie.

Vi pointed at her wet hair. “Yeah, I was.”

“You know, you’ve had a rough week. Why don’t you head back upstairs and I’ll bring dinner up to you?”

“No, I’d like some company. I’d like to feel like a normal human being.”

Rosalie opened her mouth, but no words came out. She looked like she was scrambling for some other excuse. Which made no sense.

Vi pointed at the door. “Are you going to open the door?”

“Oh, it’s probably some salesman.”

“Rosalie, no salesman is coming all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. What is going on?”

“Nothing! Nothing. Was that Mags? I thought I heard a cry.”

Vi pointed to the baby monitor hooked to her waistband. Then went ahead and moved past Rosalie and twisted the doorknob open.

“Vi—”

But if she mounted any other excuse, Vi didn’t hear it. Because there on the porch stood Thomas Hart. He was dressed much as he had been the other night. Slacks. A sort of business casual polo shirt underneath an unzipped jacket.

Everything kind of stopped for a second. “Thomas.” She didn’t know how he did it. Looked so completely like the boy she remembered, and yet so much…well, better .

Men. They had all the luck.

He smiled. Kindly. But she recognized that type of kind. It was saved for victims.

Vi turned to look at Rosalie. Shock and betrayal stung deep. She’d done this. She’d… told him. “Why did you do this?”

Rosalie got that stubborn look about her, dark blue eyes flashing. “Because I wanted someone’s professional opinion.”

“It’s not yours to want a professional opinion on,” Vi said through gritted teeth. She turned to Thomas, trying to smile. “She shouldn’t have brought you all the way out here.”

He looked completed unfazed by any of this. He shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

“Surely whoever you go home to minds.”

“Not going home to anyone these days.”

He said that without breaking eye contact, with that same, easy forthrightness he’d always had. And she blushed in spite of herself, because that had sounded like fishing.

Because it was. Even though it shouldn’t be and she hadn’t really meant to fish. “I… I didn’t mean it like that.”

His smile was still kind, but a little…something else. Not pitying, she knew that, because it made her heart do all those old flippy things it used to.

“I know.”

Rosalie cleared her throat. Right. Vi was furious , and not talking to Thomas Hart about anything .

“I don’t know why Rosalie has overstepped like this, but I can assure you, everything is fine.”

“Have him listen to the voicemail and we’ll see if he thinks it’s fine.”

Vi glared at Rosalie. “It’s nothing,” she said through gritted teeth again, trying to send Rosalie a million warning glares.

Rosalie took none of them. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking even more stubborn. “It’s not nothing.” She turned to Thomas. “He keeps leaving her threatening voicemails.”

“Who is he?” Thomas asked, still standing on the porch like he dealt with this kind of thing all the time.

Because he’s a cop . “No one,” Vi said bitterly. “Now, you can go—” She was trying to edge Rosalie out of the way, close the door on Thomas as nicely as she could, but Rosalie reached out a hand and stopped the door’s forward movement.

“Her ex-husband. His name is—”

Vi felt as though the blood just…rushed out of her head. Tears threatened so fast, she didn’t know how to stop them. She had worked so hard to feel in control, to get her life back.

Rosalie was ruining it . “How dare you,” she managed.

“I am worried about your safety, Vi. I don’t understand why you won’t take this seriously.”

“Seriously? Seriously? I got out. I got divorced. I left .”

“He’s still harassing you.”

“I tried to stop him. I tried . And he very nearly had me committed. So I left. I ran away. I stay away because there’s no beating him. He wants to poke at me, what do I care? As long as he stays most of a country away, I don’t care. I’m not risking Magnolia to try to beat him.”

“What about stopping him?” Rosalie demanded.

“There is no stopping him. There never will be.” She looked from Rosalie to Thomas, embarrassment swamping her.

She could not stand here and do this. She just couldn’t .

She’d said her piece. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to check on my daughter.

” Then she turned away from both of them and stormed upstairs.

She wasn’t hungry anymore.